Vacuum steam-heating system.



Patented Oct. 14, 1913.

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MILLARD 17.

osnounn, oFi/ E'noHAN'r'vii-mnjnnw Jnnsnv ASSIGNOR 'TO' WARREN WEBSTER &COMPANY, A CORPORATIDN or NEW JERSEY.

vacuum sTEA'ia-iinritr'rive s fs'rniii.

Lot-ease.

To all whom it may concern Be itknown that I, MILLARD P. Osisouiin,

a citizen of the United States, and a. resident of the city ofMerchantville, county'of .Camden, State .of'New Jersey, have invented anImprovement in Vacuum Steam Heatirig, Systems, of which the following isa sp'eeification. v a

My invention has reference to vacuum steam heating systems, and consists:of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the followingspecification a ndshownin the accompanying drawings, which form a partthereof. I

' The object ofmy invention is to prevent back lash or drawing into theradiator or heating coils of hot vapors, air and water from the returnpipe at such times as those when the supply valve is closed or almostclosed and excessive condensation within the radiator or heating coilsresults whereby a partial vacuum is created therein greater than thenormal partial vacuum existing in on fully or only partially as when aniodulated heating effect is required, because of the presence of thesaid watervand air which has accumulated within the heating unit underthe in'iiuence of said back lash; also in the fact that as the extent ofvacuum within the heating unit is greater than that in the return pipe,itcauses a flow of the vapor, fair and Water through the automaticreturn valve of the heating unit in the opposite direction to the usualor normal flow and an objectionable tapping or chattering noise isproduced.

All of the foregoing defects or objections are overcome by theemployment of the method and means specified hereinafter.

My invention may be embodied in com mercial vacuum steam heating systemsby providing means for automatically admit ting a proper amount of airwithi'nthe radi- Specification of Letters ream at t age, 1 1 11913,Application filed March 2; 1908. I Serial No. 418,676. i

ator or heating unit whenever the internal pressure of the radiatororheating unit becomes, from any cause, less than the internal pressureexisting Wlthlil' the return pipe, it

being understood that said internal pressure in the radiator or heatingunit under the conditions stated is less than atmospheric pressure, theair so admitted operating to raise the internal pressure until it equalsor becomes greater than the pressure within the return pipe adjacent tothe radiator or heating unit.

The means employed for accomplishing the above specified control may be'a small check'valve arranged to admit the regulatiiig air directly intothe body of the heating unit or through the bodies of its supply orreturn valve or connections between said valves and the heating unititself. In the preferred form of automatic vacuum controlling valve forthus admitting air to reduce the partial vacuum within the heating unit,I provide means for resisting its opening so as not to make it toosensitive, and said means is preferably adjustable so that the valvemaybe so adjusted that it cannot open at any pressure greater than thatwhich properly exists in the return pipe.

p In the commercial application of my in vention to a two pipe vacuumsystem, employing motor or float valves in the return ends of theradiators or heating units,

I prefer to place the automatic vacuum controlling valves in the body ofthe motor or float valves and immediately above air vents therein so asto affect the differential condition existing above and below thedischarge valve controlled by the motor or float element and thereby atonceprevent a condition capable of producing tapping orchatteringofsaid'discharge valve, notwithstanding that the change in pressureconditions within the radiator or heating unit may proceed more slowly.

My invention also comprehends other 'feae tures which, together withthose above specified, will be better understood by the followingexplanations taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a general-view in elevation showing a vacuum systemofsteam heating embodying my invention in its construction andoperation: Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale showingone of my improved vacuum control valves shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 isan elevation of a modified form of the same.

A is the radiator or heatin unit and may be of any ordinary or suitab econstruction, B is the steam supply pipe, and C is the steam supplyvalve :tor regulating the sup-' ply of steam to the radiator. E is areturn pipe leading to the vacuum pump or device for maintaining apartial vacuum in the re turn, and D is the return valve interposedbetween the radiator and the return. In practice, this return valve maybe of any suitable construction, automatic or otherwise, but preferablyof the construction known as motor or float valves, which are providedwith vents or restricted passages for the escape of air and with.discharge valves for permitting the intermittent escape of accumulatedquantities of water of condensation under control of the motor or floatelements of the valve. All

. of these'elements are well known to those skilled in the art and willrequire no further description.

H indicates"the vacuum control valves, and while one only will benecessary for ordinary radiators or heating units, I have shown three ofsaid valves located in different positions by way of illustration of theapplication of my invention. One of these valves H has been placed inthe body of the supply or modulation valve C, one has been placed on thebody of the radiator above .the water level, and the third has beenplaced in the cap of the body of the return valve in the immediatevicinity of the air'.

vent above referred to. Any one or more of these vacuum control valvesmay be employed'at any one time, or the valves may be placed in anyother convenient position so long as they are between the valve seats ofthe supply and return valves and in com- I'nunication with the contentsof the radiator or heating unit. Referring more specifically to Fig. 2,H

" is the vacuum control "valve and has a tuscrew-threaded part B of thebody and adapted for adjustment by provision of a slot J for receiving ascrew driver for turning it. By'this means, theproper degree of pressuremay be put upon the valve to make it resist opening until a definitediiference between the internal and atmospheric preswould be usedinstead of the threaded boss.

In the operation of the above described apparatus, when the normaloperation of the heating systemis taking place, steam' is admitted bythe supply valve C and the water of condensation and air are caused topass into the return E through the return valve D. Should the supplyvalve C be shut off wholly or' to such an extent as to preventsteampas'si'ngfinto the radiator or to reduce the volume of steam tosuch an extent that it condenses-with the production of a partial vacuumwithin the radiator or heating unit, the said partial vacuum would begreater than the partialvacuum in the return E and the fiowthrough thevalve D would be reversed, and the vapor, air and water from the returnE would flow 'back into the radiator F. ,This' -a'ction, if notprevented, would producethe tapping or chattering of the valve pieceinthe 'return valve D upon its seat; but by the provision of the vacuumcontrol valves H above described the possibilityof the creation of a.

vacuum within the radiator or heating unit greater than the partialvacuum'inthe'return E is prevented, and consequently the objectionableoperation above referred to is avoided. Where the valve H is located inthe return valve D or immediately adjacent thereto on the right side, itis evident that-- a partial vacuum might be temporarily maintained inthe radiator F or some 'po1' tion thereof greater than the partialvacuum in the return pipe, but its eflect would be nullified upon thereturn valve D, because of the close proximity of the. vacuum controlvalve H to the valve piece of the return valve D. It will also beunderstood that as an excess of vacuum withinthe radiator is eitherprevented .or rendered ineflicient to suck hot vapors from the return Einto the radiator because of the presence of the 0011- trol valve Hadjacent to the return valve,

it will be apparent that the radiator A will not be capable of heating uafter the supply valve 0 has been close Another'objection which'myimprovement overcomes is that where a'series of radiators are coupledin'parallel between the supply and return pipes, any excessive vacuumwithin any radlator would, If not otherw se prevented, n-

crease'the partial vacuum in the return and would modify thedifferential existing "on the other radiators immediately adjacent,

used in connection with present steam fit-;

tings and return valves of ordinary steam heating apparatus, but I donot limit or restrict myself to the details thereof, as they may bevaried or modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein described method of operating a vacuum system of steamheating which consists, in supplying steam to a plurality of radiatorsor coils and independently regulating or shutting ofi the supply of saidsteam in accordance with the requirements, simultaneously therewithmaintaining a partial vacuum in a return pipe and exhausting thereby theair and water of condensation from the plurality of radiators and eachof them,'and automatically admitting air from the room outside of thereturn pipe to the radiators or coils and each of them immediately whenthe internal pressure therein becomes lowered below atmospheric pressureapproximately equal to the pressure in the return pipe adjacent to saidradiators or coils.

2. The herein described method in a heating system of preventing backcirculation from the return pipe into the heating unit and resultingnoise from back lash, which consists in normally maintaining adifierential in pressure within the heating unit and return. at alltimes during the operation of the heating system whereby the'circulationwill be from the supply pipe through the heating unit into the return(ivarylngthe steam supply to any extent esired to vary theheating eifectof the heating unit,

and preventing a reversal of the differential in pressure between theheating unit and return by automatically admitting air from theatmosphere outside of the return pipe into the heating unit immediatelyafter reducing or shutting ofiz' the steam supply thereto to maintain aninternal pressure in said heating unit adjacent to the return equal toor greater than the pressure in the return.

3. The herein described method of preventing back lash in a vacuum steamheating system employing return valves between the radiators and vacuumreturn pipe, which consists in lowering the internal pressure in theradiator by hand control of the steam supply thereto until it is belowatmospheric ressure and then automatically checking the further loweringof the pressure on the inlet side of the return valve by admitting airinto the radiator from the atmosphere outside of thereturn pipe, wherebythe internal pressure within the radiator shall not be permitted tobecome lower than the internal pressure of the return pipe adjacent tothe radiator, and drawing any surplus air so admitted to the radiatorinto the re turn pipe after the rad ator has cooled to maintain thepressure in the radiator when cold approximately the same as that in thereturn pipe.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand. I

MILLARD P. osBo RN.

' Witnesses R. M. HUNTER, R. M. KELLY.

